Chapter 10

I stare at Emma, and then at the steering wheel in front of me. I did not expect that. Is she messing with the future as well? If the future me really did send her, why now, when everything’s chaotic? Why not before I met Aria or before Elopura was attacked?

            “I know that you have met Lady Aria a few days ago and it’s a good thing. We still have two more to go…” she babbles on but my mind is overloaded with information to think straight right now.

            “Emma,” I say slowly.

She replies, “Yes, Uncle Tony?”

I give her a sweet smile. “Can you do me a favor and shut up for a moment? You’re giving me a killer headache.”

Emma scowls at me silently. It starts to rain. I glance at my watch to see that it’s four in the morning. A small sigh escapes my lips. How did my life changed so fast?

“So the four of you, what are you supposed to do since Aria has no idea as well?” I question, rubbing my hands together to warm myself.

My niece – I mean Emma – massages her forehead. “We don’t know until the four of us are united. That’s why we need you, a time traveler.”

“Why not the future me do it instead of me?” I ask, really confused right now.

“He can’t travel to the 1400s anymore,” she explains softly.

My head snap towards her. “Excuse me?”

“It’s not my tale to tell.”

            “You said you’re going to tell me everything,” I remind her, getting more and more impatient with her.

            She sighs heavily. “It’s just that the future Anthony would like to see you as soon as possible so he can explain to you.” Before I can ask how, she puts up her hand to silence me. “You are the world’s only hope. You can still travel far back unlike the older you. If you are willing to accept, you can also travel at will, not just 1468.”

            My mind slowly processes this. “I can?” I ask, dumbfounded.

            “Yes,” Emma answers. “But there’s a price.”

            I practically bounce in my seat in excitement. “I can travel at will?”

            “Yes, you can. Like I said, there’s a price. This will be your only and final chance to straighten things up.”

            I narrow my eyes at her. “What if I don’t accept?”

            Her face is suddenly grave and I nearly flinch at her dark voice, “A lot of things will turn out bad, Uncle Tony. You and I won’t exist, the world will be conquered by evil, no hope is left… But of course, you have to do this. I mean, the future you did so I know that you will. All you need to keep in mind is you have to do things differently or else you’ll fail just like…”

            I cover her mouth with my hand to stop her from getting off the topic. She glares at me that cause me to let out a chuckle.

            “So what is the price?”

            Her face pales instantly and it worries me. “Lady Aria and I have to cast another curse upon the two of you.”

            I slam my hands down at the steering wheel as I yell at her, “You are the one who did this to me?! I have been cursed for seven years, Emma! Seven years! You claim to be my niece, you liar!”

            “Uncle Tony, calm down.”

            “No, I will not calm down,” I shout at her, making her flinch away from me. “How dare you! You made Lia and I do something inhuman!”

            “I did not put that curse on you, Uncle Tony!” Emma finally bursts out.

            My mouth snaps open. “What?” I ask in a soft voice, feeling lightheaded.

            “It comes to you and Princess Lia naturally. It is fate! The four of us only exist to ‘upgrade’ your curses and help you defeat this beast,” she explains, looking out at the dark sky.

            “Beast?” I repeat in question.

            Emma turns to me. From my angle, I can see her eyes darken almost dangerously. “Yes, a beast. A creature that is brought from Hell by the Dark Lord himself,” she says, chuckling darkly in the end.

            I stare at her as I wait for her to explain. She merely sighs.

            “It’s best if I let the future you explain,” she tells me.

            “When?”

            “When you and Princess Lia are ready.”

            I frown at her. “Ready for what?”

            She opens her mouth to answer me but my eye sight has finally turned black and white. Almost before I can disappear, I feel a hand on my shoulder. Emma and I fall on our butts on the ground.

            “Ouch!” Emma whines, rubbing her sore butt.

            I laugh out loud. “Get used to it, sweetheart.”

            Emma freezes and stares at me.

            “What?” I ask, slightly annoyed.

            “You always call me ‘sweetheart’ in my time,” she explains. I look down to see that I’m wearing the same tabard as I did before I travel back to my time.

            I didn’t notice until now that Emma’s attire is out of fashion. She wears a light blue jacket and some-sort of glittery pants.

            I snort, “Is that what you always wear in the 2030s?”

            “Hey!” she cries as she hits my arm. “Don’t insult my sense of fashion.”

            “It looks like it was made in a kindergarten,” I comment which is pissing her off.

            “Excuse me, mister! If you think my –”

            Emma is cut off by Kerris’ voice. “Sir!”

            I pull Emma to Kerris’ direction, not bothering about her clothes. Kerris has worry in his eyes.

            “Where have you been? The Visian army is on the way…” he looks at Emma with a weird look. Probably thinking why is she wearing strange-looking attire.

            “We should head back,” I order. “This is Emma, my –” I glance at Emma to continue.

            “Wife,” she adds in.

            Disbelieved, Kerris looks at me for confirmation. I grimace slightly before nodding. Out of all excuses, she just had to be my ‘wife’? Kerris shrugs and leaves it alone.

            “Let’s go!” Kerris says, leading us towards the No River. Emma stares in horror at our burning surrounding. It appears as if she did not expect this. I give her a silent questioning look which she shakes her head at.

            As soon as we reach the Kyrian’s house, I am being tackled with a hug.

            “Thank God, you’re okay!” Lia says in relieved, helping me up. She starts to blush in embarrassment.

            I chuckle and rub my butt. “You don’t need to push me down to prove your point, Lia.”

            Lia looks at Emma weirdly, probably staring at her weird clothing. “And you are?”

            Emma sinks into a deep curtsy. “Emma Weinbach, your highness.”

            Lia looks at me in shock. I can see betrayal in her eyes. I scowl at Emma. Does she even know that my last name in the past is Johnson?

            “Don’t you mean, Emma Johnson?” Kerris asks. “Surely you have given up your maiden name.”

            I glare at Kerris for being observant. Lia looks so pale that she might throw up here and now. Emma looks at me and then at Lia a few times. Aria stares at Emma with a confused look.

            “It is rare but not unheard of. I don’t want to drop my maiden name and Anthony agrees with me after some convincing,” Emma lies, covering her slip up.

            “We should talk outside,” Aria suggests, not keeping her eyes off Emma.

            Emma nods with a grave expression. “I couldn’t agree more. Come on, unc – I mean, Anthony and your highness.”

            “I shall be making some tea then,” I hear Kerris says. For a moment, I wonder where his brothers can be.

            Lia and I wordlessly follow them a few meters back. Lia looks like distraught. I nudge at her, only for her to glare at me.

            “Why is it that I didn’t know you’re married, Sir Anthony?” she hisses at me. Ouch, she just called me with my title.

            “That’s because I’m not!”

            “Then why is it that she claims herself as your wife and shares your last name? Not Johnson; Weinbach! Your real name from your present!”

            “Emma is my niece!” I burst out.

            Silence engulfs us. Lia’s face turns pink in embarrassment as soon as I say so.

            “I – I didn’t know that,” Lia stammers out.

            I sigh, relieved that she finally understands. “Neither did I. All I know is that she is from the future.”

            “Future? As in your time?”

            I shake my head. “Further ahead in time,” I murmur. “2030.”

            “2030? No wonder her accent is slightly off from yours! As well as her unusual clothing.”

            I chuckle. “Exactly. I don’t even know what it is made of.”

            “But… how did she manage to travel to my time? Surely she doesn’t have your curse.”

            “A fact that the future me sent her to my time and I accidentally brought her here,” I mumble, staring at a squirrel scurrying past me with an acorn.

            Lia hits my arm lightly. “No wonder Gabriella was so unhappy that day! You can’t just bring strangers to other times!” she scolds me.

            Emma and Aria looks like they are in a deep low conversation. The two of them look back at Lia and I and let out a shrill giggle as if they are high school girls.

            “What’s so funny?” I question in a monotone voice.

            The both of them shrug and finally stop walking when we are all in the middle of the woods. I shift my weight to my other leg impatiently.

            “Like I said, Uncle Anthony, there is a price,” Emma says. The giggly Emma a few seconds ago have vanished, leaving a very serious personality.

            It scares me to see how fast her personality can change. Note to myself: never piss Emma off. Who knows what she might do to me in the future…

            “So what is the price?” Lia asks on my behalf. Unconsciously, I take her hand and grip it. Lia looks down at our hands and then into my eyes with a smile.

            “Princess Lia will have to remain in her dragon form,” Emma states, staring at Lia. My niece’s expression is unreadable.

Lia, on the other hand, is bright red with rage. “What do you mean?” Lia asks through her gritted teeth.

Emma looks at Lia with sympathy as she says, “You’re going to have to be in your dragon form until Uncle Tony manage to find the other two gifted ones and defeat the beast.”

“And that would be how long?” I interject. My eyes twitch involuntarily in anticipation.

Emma shrugs. “I don’t know. The last time you did it, it took you years to finally understand why you’re given this curse. However, it was too late. Except that this time, you must not make any mistakes.”

“How would he know if he makes a mistake?” Aria now asks. I almost forgot that she’s here.

My niece straightens her posture. “This time, we will guide him, Aria. The four of us.”

“This is unfair to Lia! You know she hates her curse. Now that the king is no longer here to protect her, she’s exposed to all sorts of danger. Take Kyrians for example,” I say, looking at Aria. She flinches at my gaze and look down. “They will kill her once they set their eyes on her. What if I bring her along through time by accident? Everyone surrounding us will not be stupid enough to not see a dangerous-looking dragon!”

It is quiet for a moment. Now I stare at my niece, waiting for her to snap out of trance. Lia looks at me with admiration. It is very rare for her to see me lose my calm, so once I do, there’s no going away around.

She squeezes my hand that is still holding hers. A simple gesture. Thank you.

“I’m sure we’ll think of something,” Aria speaks up. “For now, we still have time. I assume that you arrived from the past a few hours ago, Emma?”

Emma nods. “Yes, Aria. They have days to think it over. In fact, we have to go to Uncle Tony’s present time.”

“We meaning?” Aria asks in confusion.

“The Princess, the time traveler and I,” Emma replies and then cast a quick glance at me. “The future Anthony would like a word with you and the Princess.”

Lia looks at Emma in horror. “How old is Anthony by the time we meet him?”

Emma scrunches up her face as she calculates in her head. “Since you’re born in the year 1996, you were ten when you first traveled in the year 2006 and 1461. Now that you’re seventeen, your present year would be 2013 and the past, 1468. Am I correct, Uncle Tony?”

I nod, feeling slightly creepy that she knows almost everything about me. It’s not cool to have someone you barely knew practically telling your whole life starting from the day you are born.

“In the year 2030, you will be 34, just like my biological mother. After all, I’m still sixteen,” Emma concludes.

“What do you mean by your biological mother?” Lia asks out of curiosity.

The sixteen-year-old looks angry at the thought of my step-sister. “I happen to be related to Jen Weinbach,” Emma answers coldly with an emotionless face.

Lia’s eyes widen in realization as she turns to look at me. I can’t help but put on an angry face. Poor Emma has been in the orphanage home for years until the future me managed to find her. Now I know why Emma is so close to me. I’m her only family, although we’re not blood related.

Aria looks a little confused but nevertheless, stays silent.

“How old are you then, Aria?” I ask with genuine curiosity.

“I’m 456 moons old,” Aria replies.

Emma and I glance at her in horror. 456? Did I hear it right or is that what she said? Is she immortal or something?

“What she means is that she’s 38 years old,” Lia translates. “The Kyrian’s calendars are different from ours. They count by moons.”

I nod. Now it makes sense. Kyrians are still crazy people. Even in my time. It is a miracle that they can catch up with the advance of technology in my time. They may be crazy but a few are incredibly intelligent. Weird but true.

“It’s quite shocking,” I tell Aria. “You don’t look old at all! How old are your brothers then?”

“Yaris is 552 moons old, Kerris is 504 and Harris is 264. Harris was unexpected,” Aria says.

Emma and I look at Lia for translation. I am absolutely horrible in math. “Yaris is 46, Kerri is 42 and Harris is 22.”

“Wow, I did not expect you to be that old,” I comment. “No offence though.”

Aria smiles, waves her hand. “It is nothing, Sir. I receive similar compliments for years that I start to wonder whether I’m really getting older or not!”

“Does this mean you’re – Crap!” I curse when my vision turns black and white. I really need to ask Emma what is going on. Why I travel too often? Why Lia is behaving more like a dragon?

“Princess, grab Uncle Tony’s hand. Quickly!” Emma instructs. Before I can do anything, I feel two different hands grabbing onto my hands. The next thing I know, I’m in my Nissan in the year 2013.

I turn to look at Emma who is staring outside of my left window. In curiosity, I turn to see Lia wearing the huge dress she was wearing, drenched in rain. My eyes widen when I realize that she’s out in the rain.

I unlock the car and help her into the back seat where she is shivering violently.

“Are you okay?” I ask, hugging her so I can provide her warmth. Her shivers lower. If I’m not hallucinating, I can feel her purr.

“Better than ever. Thank you, Anthony.”

I kiss her forehead out of habit as she snuggles closer to me. “No problem, Lia.”

“We will wait until the rain stop so I can lead you to where the older Anthony always travels to,” Emma suggests.

I nod in agreement before I play around with the radio.